Well after a year of playing calendar bingo I was finally able to give a friend from church a ride in the RV-4 today.   It took quite a lot of negotiating but we finally did it.  I met up with Dave today at Caleveras Airport.  He snapped a few pictures of the plane.  Quite a few in fact.  I patiently waited through all this as the air got hotter and thinner because Dave is a good guy and he’d probably walk through (okay, maybe very near) fire for me.  Dave is a fire captain by day and night and on days off he poses as a humble photographer.  You can see some of his work here at Dave’s Zenfolio Site

This photo just gives me chills.  I can’t insert it directly so you’ll just have to visit his site to see this killer photo.

I digress.  So after Dave finished taking the pictures we shoehorned ourselves into my tiny plane.  We fired up and taxied out.  I played the song I always play for my passengers, a very emotion and uplifting symphonic piece.  I hope that when people hear that song they will think of flying.  I won’t give it away, it’s a small treasure for those who have flown with me.

The ground run was a little long with the heat and thin air and heavy boys in the plane but she finally  broke ground and chewed her way into the air.  I performed a brief control check after we were airborne to make sure the tail wouldn’t try to tuck on me but all seemed well.  Dave enjoyed the split second of negative G’s we experienced during this check.

We took a quick run around Pardee Resevoir so Dave could take a few more pictures.  Then we headed toward his house.  We finally found it and made a few circles around his house.  He called them on his cell phone and out they came, jumping and waving just like my kids do when they see me fly over my own house.  Always does my heart good to see kids waving to airplanes.  I always wave back via wing waggle.

Then I took Dave down what I call the Death Star Trench.  It’s the spillway for New Melones Lake.  It’s plenty big enough to get a bigger plane through so my little bird had room to spare.  I kept it right off my nose so Dave couldn’t see around my big head.  At least, not until I made my last turn to enter the trench.  All he knew is we were low over the water and flying toward a BIG hill.  I turned into the trench at 160 MPH and Dave stopped praying and seemed pretty pleased with the outcome.  We screamed through the trench and then did a 3 G pull up to the right when we exited.

We took a quick diversion so I could show him the trickiest strip I have landed at to date.  Unfortunately fuel was burning and my CG was moving aft so it was time to head back to Caleveras.  Made a picture perfect approach, was greeted by Kathy on Unicom, and made a fair to middlin’ landing.  No screeching sound from the tires and no screeching from the back seat.  We are down and safe.  Our wives will not be consoling each other at our funerals.  Life is sweet.  God is good.

Dave was the perfect passenger in that he not only took a zillion (what I expect to be) great pictures of the plane, not only PAID for my fuel (LOVED that part,) AND paid for breakfast.  Ah, a perfect day.  Dave drove me  into town and we had breakfast. Afterward we went back up to the aiport, chewed the fat with the locals, and then I strapped my plane back on.  I asked the locals if they would have any problem with me doing a fly-by after I take off.  Their only condition was that I fly no higher than 5 feet off the runway.  Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to see it from the FBO.  Heh.  I like these people.

I taxied to 13 and took off.  The air was hotter and thinner now but the plane leapt off the ground like it’s feet were on fire.  I held the plane low so Dave could (you guessed it) take more pictures.  I pulled up off the end of the runway and turned toward downwind.   I flew a normal pattern making normal calls and got my plane into position for the fly by.  When I turned final something didn’t look right on the runway.  At first I thought it was a vulture sitting on the runway.  But when it didn’t move I thought maybe it was a carcass that the vultures would be visiting soon.  As I got closer, it slowly started to resemble… Dave!  In the middle of the runway.  Right on the centerline.  So as I’m heading towards Dave at 160 MPH I started to think:

Hmmm… let’s see now.  They told me that I had to get down to no more than 5 feet off the runway.

Yep.  I remember that.  Now, if I also remember correctly, Dave is over 5 feet tall.  Yes I’m pretty sure this is true.

(Still going about 160 MPH, straight at Dave)

So now, uh, hmmm, that means I’ll take roughly 1 foot off the top of Dave’s body.  Oh boy, I bet Jean wouldn’t like that.

(162 MPH)

Well now, if I were to pull to the right a little bit, I might just miss Dave.

Yep.

“Caleveras traffic, one sierra victor is going around.”  Heh, that means fly by to you non-aviators.

So that’s what I did.  I got as close to Dave as I dared while staying above the centerline but then pulled to the right to go around him.  I was probably a little more tha 5 feet above the runway.  Probably 20 feet or so.  Believe it or not, I’m not a risk taker.  And the thought process above took place in a split second.  I can only guess at what Dave was thinking when I screamed past him.

Kathy came back on Unicom and thanked me for the fly by.  I thanked her for her hospitality, wagged my wings and then enjoyed a hot, bumpy flight back to Oakdale.

All kidding aside it was truly a blessing to have Dave fly with me today.  I know he has a passion for flying that he keeps buried on account of his family.  This is one of many noble traits.  It was a pleasure to be able to allow him to enjoy this passtime that God has blessed me with.  I cannot wait to see the photos he took, I’m sure they will be excellent.

Oh, and the title — what’s that all about.  Dave knows.  Maybe he’ll tell you.  But in case any FAA types are reading this, we’re just going to keep quiet about it.  Enough said.

Even though I’ve explained this to my friends already I keep getting questions about why I’m selling the RV-4.  I really enjoy the RV-4.  I’ve invested roughly 10 years of my life in that airplane.  So why sell it now that it’s finally done?  Two reasons.

The first and most superficial reason is that my flying mission has changed.  I’d really like to get back into back country flying again and I can’t really do that in my RV-4.  It doesn’t have a whole lot of room for camping equipment, especially if you have two people in the plane.  Plus now that it’s painted I’d really be nervous landing it on a gravel strip.

The second and much less superficial reason is my son.  As many of my friends know my son has Autism.  Due to his language defecits and limited understanding his career paths will be somewhat limited.  One thing he is very good at is understanding drawings.  He also has a great mechanical aptitude.  Add to this that he recently asked me when I’m going to build another airplane.  His question made me think that I could accomplish several goals at once but it would require that I raise the funds needed to build another airplane.

My plan is to sell the RV-4 and buy a new airplane kit.  The front runner right now is a Rans S6ES.  It is simple and quick to build.  My thought is that I could give my son some excellent mechanical skills if he were to help me with the construction of this plane.  We would look at the construction manual together and I would give him a construction task on the plane each day.  He would accomplish the task and I would inspect it.  I would explain any errors to him and have him correct them himself.  This will give him some great skills in interpreting complex drawings and learning some good shop techniques.

Since we home school our children we have to take any opportunity to think outside the box.  Building another plane is just such an example of where several goals can be met at once.  I am hoping it will also help him build some confidence in his own skills and also be a great father – son bonding experience.

So there you have it.  That’s why the RV-4, something I poured my money, blood, sweat, and sometimes bad words into, must go.

The plane that is.  Finally, after 5 years of construction, and 5 years of flying (has it been THAT long?) my RV-4 is finished.  Here is the final result:

I’ve had so many friends tell me that now that it’s done, I won’t want to sell it.  I kind of don’t.  However, I’m entering into a new phase of flying where I don’t feel the need to go so fast or so far.  This plane has long legs and I don’t really.  I would rather it go to someone who can enjoy it.

It’s finally come down to it, time to sell the RV-4. I swore that this would be my last airplane but my flying mission has changed. I really want to start getting into the old back country strips that I used to go to and the RV-4 just isn’t suitable for getting into some of the smaller and rougher ones. Plus now that it’s painted I would worry about chipping paint.

I am also feeling compelled to build a plane with my son. The next plane will be largely built by him with my supervision. So without any further ado…

For Sale

Asking Price: $42,000

RV-4 N311SV
Serial No: 1054
Year built: 2002 (actually the year it was registered, took 5 years to build)
Engine: O320-D2A, TTSN: 288
Propeller: Catto 2 blade
Flaps: Manual
Trim: Electric
Avionics:
Rocky Mountain MicroMonitor
MicroAir 760 Comm Radio
MicroAir T2000 Transponder with blind encoder
Stereo intercom with music input
Standard ASI, VSI, ALT, Mag Compass

Photos:

The plane is all white. I will be adding vinyl graphics in the near future unless requested otherwise by buyer.

I need to clean up a few wires behind the panel. There is also one more air vent to mount just below the panel. Electrical switches are on a panel located below the right cockpit rail. Throttle, mixture, and carb heat controls are located on a quadrant just below the left cockpit rail. The instruments are: Left half of panel from top down, ELT, Intercom, Trim indicator, trim button, MicroMonitor, fuel gauge with selector switch directly below, MicroAir 760 Raido, T2000 Transponder. Right half of panel from top down, Alternator warn indicator and field breaker, Magnetic compass, ASI, blank, Altimeter, turn coordinator, blank, vertical speed indicator. At the far left is an air vent. The stick has a single push to talk button mounted on top.

Fuses are located in a hinged panel below the switch panel on the left. Note that the battery and fuel lines are normally covered. I had them off to clean the interior and forgot to put them back on for the picture.

I need to get a better shot of the interior. The interior is flat grey with two-tone grey upholstry. The roll bar is painted white.

A few more exterior shots follow:

If you would like to view higher resolution photos please visit my Picassa Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/svanarts/RV4N311SVForSale

The bottom line:

If you are looking for an Oshkosh award winner, this plane is NOT for you. If you a looking for an honest, fun flier, this plane may be for you. I’ve flown it to Oshkosh twice now and it has never let me down.

email: svanarts [at] yahoo [dot] com  if you have any questions.  Thanks for looking!

I got a call while I was on vacation that my RV-4 has been painted. I have no idea what it looks like. Well, that’s not true. It’s white. All white. But it will still look like a different plane when I go to pick it up. The plan is to fly over there on Saturday and spend the rest of the day putting it back together again. Then I need to repair my trim tab but then it’s back home with a shiny airplane. I’ll post pictures when I get it.